Reason to hate the World Cup #152

The esteemed president of Nigeria: Goodluck Jonathan

The Nigerian national team lost in the group stage of the World Cup and failed to make it to the elimination stage. In order to punish the team for it's failure, the president of Nigeria, a man by the name of Goodluck Jonathan, is suspending the team from international play for two years.

A few things: I am not making this up and yes, the president of Nigeria's name really is Goodluck Jonathan. All of this is following a report that alleges that the North Korean team will go back to the Fatherland and work in the coal mines for the rest of their lives after their monumental failure in the group stage. Come on Kim Jong Il! How did you expect your boys in red to win when you had to hire Chinese fans to cheer for North Korea?

Why does this give me and the rest of the Freedom loving world another reason to hate the World Cup? Because it really showcases how ignorant much of the soccer loving world truly is. The World Cup puts the athletes of these third world countries under enormous amounts of pressure to perform and win. Many of these unstable countries are run by ruthless dictators that take the loss as a personal defeat and will stop at nothing to punish the players involved.

This goes against everything that this soccer tournament is supposed to stand for: world unity and friendly competition. I watched the ESPN 30 for 30 movie The Two Escobars which highlighted the events of the 1994 World Cup in which Colombian drug lords were running the country and the soccer team. Colombia was a heavy favorite to win the whole thing but did not survive group play. The players had to hire body guards when they returned home and one player was eventually killed by one of his fellow countrymen.

What is there to do about such situations? I wish I had an easy answer. I had thought before that banning countries with certain civil and human rights violations from entering the World Cup would be the right answer but that would only make matters worse.

The one positive that I can take away from this is that it makes countries that are privileged look at the plight of the rest of the world. It makes me thankful that I live in a country that doesn't banish LeBron James from the NBA for failing to take his team to the Finals or a country that ships heavy favorites Patriot team into the Appalachian Mountains to work in the coal mines for the rest of their natural born lives in retaliation for losing to the Giants.